Science and Magic
by Princessss
Summary: Hermione Granger finds herself trapped and ready for the inevitable death that awaits her. Yet her story is not over and the Doctor makes sure that she carries on having many amazing adventures. *I do not own any of the characters in this story, they belong to J.K. Rowling and her affiliates*
1. Danger and Trouble

There were beads of sweat forming upon her forehead and neck. She could hear the uneven sound of her breathing and feel the adrenaline pumping through her veins. _This was it,_ she thought, _the day that she, Hermione Jean Granger, would finally die._ After all she'd been through with her friends, Hermione never thought that her death would be caused by something like this. _Which was exactly the reason my guard had been down,_ she thought sarcastically to herself. Looking past the great creature in front of her, Hermione saw her wand lying five feet away on the hard, cold, stone. _I could attempt to dive for it,_ Hermione thought again. However, she had to admit that there was no guarantee she'd get past the hideous monster and the odds did not look so great.

Ugh it was a hideous thing to look at, and even more violent than a nesting-mother Dragon if that was even possible. It was stronger than a Giant, and far more stupider than a Troll. Yet it had still beaten her, which was the funny thing. The creature advanced towards her smelling of, what she would imagine to be the smell of, rotting flesh and vomit. _This is it,_ Hermione thought, _I am about to die._ Hermione closed her eyes, conceding to the death she knew was imminent and whispered one last desperate word.

"Ron."

In that instant she knew that death had come for her. Then, unexpectedly, she felt someone take her hand in theirs. It felt warm and, somehow, a comfort to her shaking form. Opening her eyes, confusion clouded Hermione's brain. There the monster was in front of her, disgusting as ever, only a few feet away now. Yet someone inexplicably was also holding her hand. Whipping her head to the side, Hermione found herself face to face with the owner of the hand. He was a tall man with messy brown hair, dressed in a deep blue suit and was looking at her intently. There was a gleam in his eyes that made Hermione think that the man was enjoying himself slightly, but there was also something, a quality, about his face that made her trust him completely. Then he spoke one word to her. A word of which she would remember forever.

"Run."

The monster lunged towards the two of them just as the tall, erratic man managed to pull her out of the way. He manoeuvred the two of them past the hideous creature and made to run through the gigantic, stone door. Hermione managed to snatch her wand up from the ground as they sprinted through to the next room. The roar of the monster was deafening as it attempted to chase after them. Hermione pointed her wand up towards the ceiling above the door. A mixture of rubble and metal fell to the floor, blocking the door and trapping the monster behind it the instant Hermione cast the non-verbal _'reducto'_ spell.

Not waiting to see if that held the creature the two of them continued to run through the increasingly sparse rooms. During all the chaos Hermione's mind was filled with mountains of questions. _Who is this strange man? He seems to do this often yet he does not seem like any Wizard I knew. Does he have prodigous skill?_ She didn't know but she wanted to find out.

"Who exactly are you?" Hermione asked, eyes narrowed in accusation.

"I'm the Doctor, and we've got to run," The man who called himself the Doctor replied.

He grabbed Hermione's hand again and forced them both towards the exit. Before they had taken two steps the monster appeared through a door to the left of them, blocking their escape. Without hesitating the Doctor ran for the side door but Hermione could see that the monster was going to catch them.

"PROTEGO" Hermione yelled, blocking the monsters path.

The Doctor stared at Hermione, hesitating for just a second in bewilderment. Quickly recovering he dragged them both through the emergency exit and into the little alleyway that ran down the side of the abandoned warehouse. They continued running down the alleyway and through a few small side roads, finally stopping in small dead-end road that was lined with more gigantic warehouses. The Doctor turned towards Hermione, hands in his pockets and a huge grin on his face. Hermione suddenly noticed that he was leaning against a large, blue police box.

"So," the man smiled, "what's your name?"

Hermione blinked twice before realising he was actually real and talking to her. She had begun to wonder whether this entire thing was happening or if she was just experiencing an extremely bad nightmare.

"I'm Hermione, H-Hermione Granger," she stammered, slightly in awe.

"And how exactly did you cause that shield thingy, Hermione Granger," the Doctor asked, crossing his arms.

"Well... I..." Hermione began, unsure of what to say or do.

"Because it seems like you used magic, but that is absolutely impossible. I mean, it's just illogical," he mused, not really talking to her anymore. Circling Hermione he seemed to be appraising her, trying to find another possible solution.

"I just, I," Hermione muttered. trying to form words.

"Yet, that is the only possible solution," he finished, "You can do magic. You used that wand to save us. It's clearly come from the earth and this planet does not have the technology to be that advanced. The question now is, how do you do it?"

The Doctor continued to stare at her intently, apparently oblivious to Hermione's obvious discomfort. She knew what she had to do and yet, oddly, this muggle did not seem like any muggle at all. He was not magical and he looked human, yet, there was something about him. This man did not seem to be acting as a normal muggle would once they had found out that magic exists. _Though,_ Hermione thought as he began to point a screwdriver with a laser on the end of it at her, _that may be because his mental capacity is similar to that of Xenophilius Lovegood's._

"Do you," Hermione started, "I mean, is there anywhere I could take you?"

"Nah, I'm fine. Got her parked right here," the Doctor said, standing up and patting the blue police box.

"Um..." Hermione was worried now and began racking her brain for excuses to leave. Who would believe a mad man anyway?

"Do you want to look inside?" he smiled, eyes twinkling.

"Oh... okay" Hermione stammered, wanting to placate him.

He opened the door and nodded his head towards the entrance. Hermione cautiously moved forwards, intending only to poke her head through the door and gather a quick look. As she reached the door frame the man smiled encouragingly at her. _He doesn't seem mad,_ Hermione thought. With one hand resting on the frame of the door Hermione leant into the room. What she saw was not what she had expected to see. Slowly she walked further into the cavernous room and stared around at what could not possibly fit inside a small blue box. Running outside she circled the strange object to determine any hidden doorways.

The man merely smiled at her and shrugged slightly, clearly amused by the look on Hermione's face. She could feel her eyes widen and her mouth set in that awed _'o'_ shape. _How could this man pretend not to know of magic when this was clearly a magical object?_ Hermione thought. Though she'd never seen or expected a wizard's house to be that inconspicuous before and the style was extremely odd, like nothing she'd ever seen before.

"Did you enchant it yourself?" asked Hermione.

"Enchant it? What?" the Doctor replied, his eyes quizzical.

"What spell did you use? I've seen tents and cars expanded but never to this level. You must be an extraordinary wizard. But why did you pretend not to know of magic?" said Hermione, clearly confused.

"Because I'm not a wizard. Magic it's just not possible and yet...here you are."

The two of them surveyed each other skeptically. Hermione could see that he was telling the truth, that he had no idea of magic and didn't want to believe it exists. Yet, there he was, a magical object owned solely by him. The question now was how did he get it.

"How does a Muggle, like yourself, come by such a magical object then?"

"A muggle? What does that mean?" he asked, genuinely curious, "Also this is no magical object, it is purely made from technology which you could not possibly begin to understand and wouldn't have heard of."

"Technology? Like what muggles have? A muggle is a non-magical human and this has to be magic, it just has to be. There is no way that box could be so large inside without it," Hermione claimed.

"Well that's what it is. It's technology from my home planet, Gallifrey. Something that humans do not possess and never will," he replied.

"But... you're human."

"Yeah, except no I'm not. Human I mean. I'm a Time Lord. The last of my kind, in fact. Nice to meet you."


	2. A Choice

Abruptly, the Doctor flew into the large, blue box and left Hermione standing in the road utterly perplexed and speechless. _What does he mean 'not magic'? It has to be magic. Perhaps he just has no idea of what he possesses. Yet he seems so sure,_ Hermione's thoughts rushed around her brain. She could not understand how he could possibly not know that this Tardis was clearly a magical object. Only a few seconds had passed though it seemed a lot longer to Hermione when she was brought out of her thoughts. The Doctor stuck his head out of the blue box's doors and a cheeky twinkle brightened his eyes.

"Um, sorry, but are you coming? Or are you going stand out here all day?" he asked, disappearing back into the Tardis.

Hesitating for just a few seconds more, Hermione walked cautiously into the giant box. This time she looked around the oddly decorated room with far more concentration than before in an attempt to drink every single detail in. She noticed the odd round shaped objects plastered over the walls and ceiling, the strange but perfect curve of the entire room, and all of the strange objects including the giant round table type thing that was covered in hundreds of knobs and buttons while being connected with a strange, glowing tube. The Doctor was running around this area, pressing the buttons and pulling at some levers. He then grabbed the long brown coat that was lying on one of the chairs and threw it over one of the railings surrounding the two of them. Turning to Hermione, the Doctor looked deep into her eyes a little apprehensive.

"So," the Doctor began, "what do you think?" It took a moment for Hermione to be able to find her voice.

"I- I-," Hermione began. After taking a deep breath everything she had been thinking in the last few minutes came pouring out in a rush, "I don't know what to think! First you appear out of thin air and save me from that hideous creature, the likes of which I have never seen before and hope never to see again. Then, it appears, that you are a muggle who has no idea of magic yet when I performed magic you barely seemed surprise. It was as though you had been expecting to see it for a while. Then I think you must be a wizard but you deny it and you deny being a wizard even though you clearly have a magical object in your possession right here," Hermione gestured around the room without breaking stride, "and I don't know how you acquired me and you say that it isn't magical but what you are suggesting is utterly ludicrous. It's not plausible. Another planet? Strange machinery? None of it can exist. It is just. Not. Possible."

All of this was garbled and barely understandable since Hermione had said all of this without drawing a breath. There she stood, pink cheeks flushing in confusion and her heavy breathing the only sound in the entire room. The Doctor merely looked at her with a slightly wary expression on his face. He walked towards her, eyes wide with excitement and a maddeningly knowing look that clouded his dark eyes. Hermione stared back, waiting for the crazy man to finally say something. To tell her that she was right and that this had all been a poor joke. He really was a wizard. He just had to be.

"Hermione Granger," he finally broke the silence, saying her name with some kind of reverence, "you are so human. So unbelievably and amazingly human…. And yet you are like no other human I have ever encountered." The Doctor paused, looking intently into her face as though willing her to understand, "I am not a wizard. I cannot do magic. I have never even encountered magic before, not real magic anyway, and I am finding all of this," the Doctor waved his hand in her direction, "extremely hard to believe." Again he paused but Hermione was barely breathing now, "Everything I have told you so far is true. I am a Time Lord from the planet Gallifrey and this is my space ship. It is not run by magic but pure alien technology that is a mystery to your people and always will be," the Doctor continued, "Clearly we are both as flummoxed as each other so how about, rather than talking, I just show you?"

The Doctor grinned cheekily at her and his eyes were similar to that of a small, eager child at Christmas. Hermione hadn't even begun to process all of this yet. _Not magic? It has to be magic. Perhaps he is just not familiar with it…. Perhaps he is completely ignorant. I'll just have to prove to him that what he is talking about is impossible,_ Hermione thought. Then she furrowed her brows in confusion at him. _There is no way he'll be able to prove any of this, but he seems so sure….. so confident._ Hermione thought all of this extremely quickly and managed to recover equally as fast.

"What do you mean 'show me'?" asked Hermione.

"How about we go on a little trip?" the Doctor grinned. Hermione stared back perplexed.

"A trip to where?" confusion coloured her tone.

"Anywhere! Through time or space! That's what T.A.R.D.I.S. Stands for, after all. Time and Relative Dimensions in Space. So, it's your choice."

"Time or space?" Hermione scoffed as she took in what the Doctor had said, "That's not even remotely possible. Witches and wizards can go back in time by using a time turner but no more than a few hours. Perhaps yours is bigger so it _may_ be able to travel back a few months or so but to suggest any time at all is absolutely ridiculous." The smile on the Doctor's face had grown as Hermione had spoken.

"Is that what you think?" he asked. Hermione gave a small, curt nod in response. "Well then," the Doctor continued, "I suppose I'll have to show you."

"What do you mean…. Show me?" asked Hermione tentatively.

"I'm going to take you on a trip, anywhere in the universe. I could take you to another planet. I could take you to the past," the Doctor said suddenly serious again, "I could even take you to the future. Fancy it?"

Hermione looked into the Doctor's face and saw the honest sincerity there. Could he be telling the truth? _No,_ was her immediate answer, _it's just not possible….. and yet there is something about his face that I can't help but believe._ For a second Hermione was seriously considering going with him. _Why not?_ she thought, _I could see for myself whether or not_ _he is telling the truth and if, as I suspect, this is all a clever ruse then I'll know…. But if it's all true then I'll be able to see so much, learn so much. I'll be able to study this powerful magical object that the Doctor has in his possession and prove to him that it is magical. He will have to believe me._ Hermione's mind flew over these thoughts extremely fast and she had all but told him that she would come when realisation hit.

"I can't go…" Hermione sighed, "If I disappeared my family would worry…. My friends would look for me. I can't do that to them." The Doctor continued to smile at her, unaffected by her speech.

"You did hear me when I said it travels in time, right?" he asked and Hermione nodded, pursing her lips in defiance. _Does he think I'm an idiot?_ She thought. "Well then you know that I could take you to Ancient Greece or 50 million years into the future and get you back here in 10 seconds. I could get you back yesterday if you really wanted."

"Really?" asked Hermione slightly intrigued.

"Yep," shouted the Doctor as he jumped up and ran around the large, round table. "So," he asked, "where to?"

Hermione stared at him. _Where to? There are so many places. How can he possibly_ _expect me to decide? There are so many places I want to go. So many I seem to not even know of. On top of that what if I decide on somewhere and all he has been saying really is not true? He sounds so sure, so truthful and yet it is completely illogical._ Through her entire thought process the Doctor had merely stared at her with that excitable puppy-like expression on his face. As she stared back at him Hermione felt his enthusiasm affecting her. She grinned back at this strange and possibly insane man unable to disapprove.

"Anywhere," she shouted back. The Doctor's grin widened and he let out a loud, joyful laugh. Running around the gigantic, round table-like monument he continued to flick and push buttons. The large, glowing tube connected to it had begun to move and make an indescribable noise that filled the entire room. Hermione watched the Doctor as he worked, running this way and that. The Doctor abruptly stopped beside her and looked down into her face, holding onto a strange lever but not pulling it.

"Ready?" the Doctor asked. Hermione hesitated for only a second before answering.

"Ready," Hermione confirmed. That same old grin illuminated the Doctor's face.

"Then hold on!" he shouted, pulling the lever and letting out a large 'HA!'.

The room suddenly jerked to life and Hermione clung on to the side of the round table for dear life, wrapping her hand though a large hole in the metal. Next to her the Doctor stood, also grabbing hold of a spare chunk of metal smiling at her. He let out a great whoop of laughter as the room threw the two of them around, so infectious that Hermione joined in. Time for another adventure.


	3. Hazard on the Rinovambh

She clutched on to her hand hold for dear life, her initial euphoria had disappeared almost instantaneously. The Doctor was whirling around the strange table with all the odd bits and bobs attached to it, pressing buttons and pulling levers again. It wasn't long before there was one last gigantic jerk, that almost forced Hermione to fall to the ground, and the room came to a sudden standstill. For a moment, it seemed that the Doctor had quite forgotten her. He raced around the room, grabbing and throwing things here and there, before finally grabbing his long, brown coat and throwing it on as he ran towards the double-doored entrance. Hermione hesitated not sure what to do. As he placed one hand on the door, it seemed that the Doctor had remembered she was there at last. He turned to look at her with an intensely serious expression upon his face. Slowly, the Doctor walked towards Hermione and halted directly in front of her. His face was only a few inches from her own, he was so close that Hermione could feel his warm breath on her cheeks.

"Outside that door is a world you've never imagined in your wildest dreams. A world you've never even given a thought to the possibility of existing," said the Doctor, his dark eyes boring into hers. "If you step out of that door, your view of the entire universe, even life itself, will change. You will change. Are you sure that you're ready for that?"

Hermione met his gaze and she knew that there was no trace of uncertainty in her eyes. "Yes."

The Doctor grinned and grabbed Hermione's right hand, pulling her over the small bridge and hesitating for just one moment before pushing open those blue double doors. He looked at her, an expression of undiluted excitement in his eyes and Hermione took one last deep breath before the Doctor pulled her through the doors and she stepped out in to the place just beyond. Looking around, Hermione saw that she was in an unfamiliar land. She wished that she had about 10 more eyes just so she could see everything. They were in some kind of market place, with stalls selling odd things in every available space. Shoppers were sporting strange fashions, though that wasn't the strangest part. Hermione had seen all sorts of people since she had found out she was a witch. Hags and Ghouls, Vampires and Werewolves, even House-Elves and Goblins. Yet the people she saw in front of her now were like nothing she had ever seen. There seemed to be humans dotted around here and there but other than that every stranger looked different. She could see people with purple skin who had talons instead of fingernails. There were some that had four eyes or two eyes or no eyes. One person had no arms or legs and, instead, slithered across the floor like a giant slug. Yet, oddly, she could still understand every single word the strangers around her were saying and, now she had noticed that, the signposts all seemed to be written in English.

"So," the Doctor murmured low enough so only she could hear, "What do you think?"

"I- I-," Hermione stuttered, attempting to find the right word. "It's almost… magical."

His answering smile was magnificent. Still Grinning the Doctor put his hand into his pockets and walked through the crowd, leaving Hermione rooted to the spot. "Come on then," the Doctor called. Hermione jumped and quickly followed, not wanting to be left behind in this foreign place. They walked past rickety wooden stalls selling everything from live animals she'd never seen the likes of before to foods that smelt strange but delicious. There were things that she would never have imagined existing but they did not look out of place as they would usually. After walking around for a while the feeling she hadn't been able to shake suddenly became clear. _I feel completely at ease…._ Hermione thought, _I should be panicking but here I am… just, sort of, accepting everything. Shouldn't I be more scared? This is absolutely crazy and yet I can't deny the evidence._

"Where are we?" asked Hermione, interrupting her own thought.

"We are in the biggest marketplace in the Universe. On the planet Xahiri, in fact," the Doctor answered, "About thirty thousand years into the future, give or take a few." Hermione gaped as he spoke. "I think we're on…" He took a deep sniff, "Ah, yes. The Rinovambh level - silent BH. I can tell from the distinct smell of satsumas," he answered her silent question. "It's one of the lower levels. Here is where merchants and proprietors from all over the galaxies come to trade," the Doctor continued as he gestured to the stalls, "Though it is actually all a part of one bigger business. On the upper levels of the city there are the headquarters for almost every single intergalactic company in existence, or so I've heard. All under one roof…"

The Doctor trailed off as Hermione stared at him uncomprehendingly. _That just_ can't _be right,_ Hermione thought. _Can it… Yet, after all I've seen, can I really doubt him at this point?_ She opened her mouth to ask him more questions when he suddenly took off running again, his long brown coat flying behind him. Hermione followed, hurrying to keep up. He seemed to be searching for something important, something she hadn't noticed or couldn't see. They twirled past bakers and butchers, while running around talking Rhinos and merchants wearing robes made of live bats. The Doctor led them down a side-street and through a small alleyway which opened out into a beautiful courtyard. In the centre stood an enormous fountain made of some kind of substance she had never encountered before. Next to her the Doctor was wildly spinning around, his eyes darting everywhere, before running his hand through his dark hair in despair.

"Doctor…." Hermione began cautiously, "What's wrong?"

"I- I…. She's…. Just…." He trailed off again. "It doesn't matter." For half a moment the two of them stood in silence until the Doctor abruptly smiled that same goofy smile at her and gave a small wink. "Come on then, let's go. We've not seen the best bit yet!"

"What's the best bit?" asked Hermione, half-running to catch up with him.

"No idea," he said, grinning. "But I'm positive we haven't seen it yet."

With that last thought, the two of them continued to roam the marketplace together. The Doctor kept up a running commentary of everything they saw, and answered her questions eagerly even if some of the answers she could tell were obvious to him. One of the things that greatly fascinated her was the Translation circuit in the Tardis which, she now knew, was the reason she could understand everyone and everything. It seemed to be some form of magic that translated everything for her to understand and, in turn, it translated everything she said when speaking to the natives of the planet they were on. _The planet we are on_ , Hermione thought, _I would never have imagined that I'd ever have cause to put those words into the same sentence._ She smiled and continued to survey the strange fruit she had been absentmindedly holding in her hand. It was a deep midnight blue, no a beautiful fir green, no a mesmerising purple. The colours continued to change before her eyes, it was absolutely amazing. She wondered idly what enchantment this could be or what magical properties it beheld. As she turned to the Doctor to ask, Hermione found him watching her with a peculiar expression on his face.

"What?" Hermione asked with a slight frown.

"Nothing," replied the Doctor.

She continued to stare at him questioningly before rolling her eyes and giving up. Turning back to the stall, Hermione placed the strange fruit back on the stand and smiled at the merchant who gave her a toothless grin in return. It looked odd because the man seemed to have a shark's head, and a toothless shark was something she had never seen before. However, she seemed to be adapting to the oddness rather well, that wasn't so surprising since she'd had to do the same thing at age eleven when she had found out that she was a witch. _I've missed this feeling,_ Hermione thought. As she continued to browse the goods on the stalls Hermione found herself thinking about her friends and family back home. That beautiful vase with talking flowers in reminded her of her mother. The alien who seemed to be smoking a pipe that looked exactly like her father's. A boy with dirt on his nose played with a foamy ball made her remember the first time she ever met Ron. Slight homesickness gripped her but the wonders she could see overpowered it.

"You remind me a lot of myself," the Doctor began out of nowhere, "So eager to learn, eager for adventure, eager to do what's right." Hermione wasn't sure what to say and so waited for him to continue. He smiled at her before getting to his point, "I am extremely clever but there are a lot of things I don't know of myself. Things you might have more knowledge of." For a moment he just stared at Hermione until she understood.

"Magic," she confirmed. The Doctor merely nodded in reply. "I can't teach you, it doesn't work that way."

"But you can show me." He didn't say it as a question.

"Yes," Hermione answered, "I can show you."

The Doctor grinned and began to speak again though was cut off by a huge crashing sound to their right. With one fleeting glance at her he was off, with Hermione tailing close behind, running towards the ruckus. Hermione had taken her wand out from her pocket and gripped it tightly as they raced through the market. Danger was toxic in the air. Merchants began packing up their wares as quickly as possible and customers hurried towards the exits. Yet, for some strange reason, all Hermione could feel was excitement. This feeling was foreign to her in this context, usually when danger struck all she could feel was worry. She supposed that it had something to do with the Doctor's now euphoric mood. Hermione narrowed her eyes towards the direction of the noise and had one lingering thought. _Let's do this._


	4. New Life

Terrified people sprinted past them, fleeing from whatever horror awaited them further into the market place. A child stood on the steps of what seemed to be a religious temple looking extremely lost and alone. Hermione paused and started towards the small boy, intending to take him to safety, before his exceptionally worried looking mother pushed through the crowd and grabbed him up in her arms. A feeling of relief coursed through her, though it quickly disappeared as she whipped around just in time to see the hem of the Doctor's brown coat disappear beyond a large and dusty building's corner. With a feeling of determination Hermione followed and to her horror found herself facing an unimaginable foe. Somehow the buildings and the ground itself were mutating into some kind of monstrous creature. What looked like a mouth had appeared in the centre of another market square. It had a thousand sharp teeth all in rows and the people closest were very nearly being consumed by it. The Doctor stood a few feet in front of her, looking up at the scene unfolding with a mute horror. Hermione hurried beside him, her wand still drawn, though she was not staring at the danger in front of her but rather at the erratic man standing next to her. His eyes, though horrified, seemed to have a glimmer of excitement within them. A small feeling of anger began to bubble inside of her but the feeling of fear won out. For some strange reason Hermione found that she automatically trusted this man.

"Doctor," she yelled. He looked at her as though he had forgotten she was there. "Doctor, what is it? What do we do?"

For one fleeting moment Hermione was unsure as to whether he was going to reply. "No idea." Hermione's eyes widened in fear but the Doctor looked back at the creature. "Let's go and find out." Without a second glance he was off again, leaving Hermione rooted to the spot. For a split second she wasn't sure whether she was going to follow until he called back to her over his shoulder. "Are you coming?"

Without a moment's hesitation Hermione ran after him. Just as Hermione reached the Doctor, who was pointing his laser-topped screwdriver at the pulsating mound, the creature let out an ear-splitting roar. Luckily the last of the civilians had already escaped unscathed. Adrenaline coursed through her body, fear shaking her entire form. The monster continued to rise higher and higher until the mound was taller than most of the surrounding buildings. Limbs began to form where arms should be and a huge black eye appeared above the ginormous mouth. Next to her the Doctor's laser-topped screwdriver was emitting an odd sound. Somehow he seemed to be analysing the creature with it. _A strange 'Dark Arts' detector, perhaps?_ Hermione thought to herself. In the next instant the buzzing had stopped and the Doctor had flicked the screwdriver upright. He seemed to be reading the results.

"Oh you," he said, talking directly to the beast. "You are absolutely impossible. A new life-form right in front of our eyes. Fancy that. This is just amazing I have got to say."

"What do you mean a 'new' life-form, Doctor?" Hermione asked, her eyebrows furrowed in confusion.

"It's evolving, right now. Right in front of us." The Doctor turned towards her with a huge grin on his face.

"B-but, isn't it… dangerous?"

"Nah, it's just a baby. Well, ok, it might be but we can't know until it does something. But you're right we should probably take it somewhere safe, away from people. The thing is, this planet is its home and this beautiful creature has as much of a right to be here as these people do." He ran a hand through his hair, for the first time the Doctor looked slightly strained.

"So… what do we do?"

The Doctor looked at her. "We talk to it." All Hermione could do was blink stupidly back at him. _Talk to it… is he insane?_ The Doctor turned from her and walked even closer towards the creature. "Hello you," the Doctor called up to it. "How gorgeous are you? Absolutely beautiful. My name is the Doctor, and who are you?"

In response the creature gave another ear-splitting roar. "Now come on, don't be like that! Talk to me."

"Doctor, I don't think this is working," said Hermione.

She was trembling from head to toe, adrenaline coursing through her body. It was as though she were that first year girl trapped in a bathroom with an enormous troll once again. Although Hermione had faced many foes before she had never encountered anything like this and had no sense of how to proceed. Her fingers were wrapped so tightly around her wand that she was surprised that it hadn't snapped. The Doctor had moved forward still attempting to communicate with the thing but to no avail. Just as Hermione had decided to attempt a stunning spell the creature's roars seemed to be forming words.

"M- M- My name…. who are I?" the Thing asked.

"I don't know," the Doctor replied. "I'm sorry but I don't know. What I want to know is how you were created. Originally I thought you were evolving right now but surely it couldn't go this quickly?" He seemed to be talking more to himself rather than to the monster. "However, I can make you a good offer."

"Offer?"

"Yes. I could take you to a new planet, an uninhabited planet, and you could spend your life there happily without interference."

"New planet?" For a moment the monster seemed to be considering his words. "Where?"

"Well I don't know… yet but I know that I can find you one."

Another ear-splitting roar filled what was left of the market square. "No planet. I stay home.

The mound melted quickly back into the ground, leaving the square behind almost exactly as before with the exception of a few broken stalls and their wares scattered all over the place. A few of the braver children, who were seemingly dressed in dirty rags and clearly homeless, had ventured forwards to gather some of the rich fabrics and jewellery that had been abandoned by their merchants. More joined them after a few minutes as they came to realise that it was safe, in their poverty they saw not the terrifying death and despair just the riches that lay before them. Hermione stood rooted to the spot, frozen and unable to move. After a few moments of deliberation the Doctor turned quickly on his heel and began running back in the direction they had first come. It only took her a moment to follow but her entire body was numb. _This... shouldn't be possible,_ she thought. Soon they reached the Tardis and the Doctor threw his coat over the bannister without missing a step. For a few moments he didn't speak, merely tapping on buttons and typing on a keyboard that seemed to appear out from nowhere. He shoved the buzzing dark detector into a hole beside the keyboard and flipped over some sort of screen. Numerical digits and symbols she didn't understand appeared rapidly on it and the Doctor pulled out a pair of square glasses from his breast pocket before donning them. Whatever the strange symbols meant Hermione didn't know, the Doctor was muttering to himself and not making any sense.

"AHA!" he suddenly shouted. "I was right. It _was_ evolving right in front of our eyes. But how? How could something evolve so rapidly?" The Doctor seemed to be talking aloud for his own benefit rather than for Hermione's but either way she was fascinated. He continued to study the screen, occasionally tapping a button here or there. "Hmm, yes I see. Composed entirely of organic matter… Wait!" He ran back outside but stopped just outside the Tardis doors where Hermione stood, watching. So quickly that Hermione wasn't sure that he'd actually done it, the Doctor knelt down and licked the ground before running his fingers over it. Then he grabbed a handful of the dirt and ran back inside, pouring it into an open tube. "That is beautiful. Have a look at that! You beautiful little planet you. The question is what are you?"

The Doctor squeezed his face together with his right hand from the top of his cheek to the chin. "Um Doctor?" Hermione started after a few minutes of silence. "What's going on?"

He looked up. "Well if I had to hazard a guess… I'd say that this planet is evolving. Or, at least, certain minerals beneath the crust are," he explained. "I'm not sure what that means though…"

"So what do we do?"

"Do? I suppose we'll have to find it somewhere to go. I'll have to keep a close eye on this place in case any more pop up though. Got my thingamajig scanning for suitable planets right now. Then we can go and get it!"

Hermione saw the huge floor in this plan. "But… what if it refuses to come?"

"Then I'll have to make it." For a moment there was a dangerous glint in his eyes that was quickly overshadowed by and jovial smile. "I'm sure it won't come to that though," the Doctor stated as he walked towards the door. "Come on!"

"Where are we going?" asked Hermione.

The Doctor looked back at her. "To find it, of course."


	5. Panic with the Inspector

"Wait – Hang on!" said Hermione.

But the Doctor didn't wait, he had already began to run back the way they had come with his long, brown coat billowing out behind him. Hermione followed as quickly as she could. Sports had never been her strong suit but she had done some running in her time with her two best friends. She had no idea where they were going until they turned the corner and she saw the fascinating blue box looming closer. Hermione hurtled through the open door after him, slamming it behind her. He had already flung his coat over the nearest rail and was for the second time running around the strange circular table pressing a lot of buttons. This time the box did not move though, thankfully. Instead the Doctor pulled what looked like some dirt from his pocket and placed it onto a metal dish which then edged itself back into the circular table. The Doctor pulled down a screen from nowhere, put on a pair of black, rectangular glasses and began to read a series of numbers and letters which appeared on the screen. Hermione had no idea what it was saying but the Doctor seemed to as he kept muttering words she could not hear to himself.

"… with that it could be, couldn't it? YES! Oh you beauty!" the Doctor suddenly yelled.

"You know where it is?" asked Hermione eagerly.

"Well yes …and, also, no."

"That doesn't make any sense."

"Okay, no it doesn't but it also does!" When Hermione merely looked confused he continued. "You see this wonderful life didn't _just_ evolve, it has been here the entire time."

"I still don't understand," said Hermione.

"Well then think, use that big brain of yours," he replied.

Hermione mused over his words aloud. "If it has been here this entire time, before the people came then that suggests… that suggests that this planet _is_ the creature."

"Exactamundo! Think of it as if this planet is the egg and it is finally hatching. The thing is even though this entire planet is a creature its consciousness has moved somewhere else and so we know where it is but we don't know _where_ it is." The Doctor's expression rapidly changed from one of excitement to one of worry. "Which leaves us with one choice really and it's going to be extremely difficult to convince them."

"Who?"

"Everyone."

"What do they need convincing over?"

"Well I doubt that they will leave willingly."

"Leave? Why?" asked Hermione, completely bemused.

"Because they're living on a living being and we cannot claim it as a place to settle if that is the case."

"But isn't there a chance of, I don't know, extracting the conscious being _from_ the planet as such? Perhaps a spell or a potion or something."

He looked at her intently. "If I knew more about magic I'd be able to give you an answer but that seems to be your area of expertise. Do you know of any such spell?"

"No," Hermione replied, pulling anxiously at her lip. "I could look it up but I'd need access to my books."

"Unfortunately I don't think that we have time for that." Hermione was disappointed and didn't try to hide it. "Then again, this _is_ a time machine." She looked up at him in wonder. "Therefore we could get back here at the precise moment we left." The Doctor grinned at her. "Where to?"

"The British Library."

The Doctor raised his eyebrows. "They have books about magic in there?"

"Don't be ridiculous, in the small café nearby."

~P~

Hermione sat at an empty table that was nestled within the stacks with an enormous pile of books in front of her. One was open and she had her nose pressed extremely close to the pages. She looked up to see the Doctor sat on top of the table next to her also hunched over a book, although not a relevant one. When they had first arrived Hermione had been thrown off-guard when it transpired that the Doctor could see the café as it was usually hidden from muggles view. It made Hermione question whether he was telling the truth or not but supposed that it was also possible that his Time Lord brain could see more than normal humans could. Upon entering the café the Doctor could hardly contain his glee at all the magic in the place, even more so when they went through to the grand library. It was like watching a small child in a toy shop, running around and grabbing everything he could get his hands on. Like then Hermione smiled in amusement as she recalled the memory.

Throughout the past few hours Hermione had encountered many interruptions from the alien she had brought with her. He kept asking her questions like 'Why exactly is Unicorn hair such a good wand core?' and 'How do magical brooms work?' which she often didn't fully know the answers to, though she had admittedly read a little of wandlore. As time wore on and still yielded no result her resolve, rather than diminish as most peoples might, merely grew stronger. It wasn't until the evening when the Doctor suggested that they might find some sustenance and get some rest that she finally stopped looking, but not until she had taken a few books with her. The Doctor asked her to take out some books on his behalf as well, enjoying this newfound knowledge that she had showed him. Although there was the International Statue of Secrecy which made Hermione feel a _little_ guilty she bypassed those feelings by reminding herself that since the Doctor was not actually a human, nor from this planet, she technically wasn't breaking the law. After all it said international, not intergalactic.

Honestly she was grateful that the Doctor had suggested getting some sleep, her head was uncomfortably full of thoughts and she didn't have a pensieve with her. Over the past eight hours she had poured over book after book. Looking up the siphoning charm, anything remotely related to it, everything surrounding it. Then she had tried to look at potions but gave that up rather quickly, thinking that she'd have to get the creature to drink it somehow and not liking their chances – also there really wasn't anything that would work. For a little while she considered the polyjuice potion, transforming the beast into something more manageable and removing it that way but then she ran the risk of changing the entire planet into a small creature and leaving the people stranded in space where they would most likely die. No a charm was the safest bet. That was when the realization dawned on her.

"I've got it!"

~P~

"Are you sure this will work?" the Doctor asked.

"Positive."

He merely nodded and Hermione was momentarily touched by his automatic trust in her. They were back on Xahiri on the Rinovambh level and the Doctor was using some sort of 'scanner' the TARDIS is equipped with to search for the monster's consciousness. Unfortunately it was not yielding much result due to the fact that the monster was technically everywhere. After a while they conceded defeat and went with the less desirable second option - to search for the creature manually. This was what the Doctor had hoped to avoid since, as he'd explained to her, it would take far too much time and that was not a luxury that they had. Nevertheless the creature was sure to show itself sooner or later. Hopefully it would be sooner and somewhere close to them, otherwise it may cause some real damage and they most certainly did not want that.

"Alright I think we should split up, cover more ground," said Hermione.

"No."

"Yes, we need to find this thing fast."

"Look, you are on a planet you don't know with a man you have just met. We are in an extremely dangerous situation and I need to make sure that you are safe. Imagine what your family would think if you just disappeared," said the Doctor as he grabbed her by the shoulders. Hermione looked away, tears pooling in her eyes at the mention of her family.

"Fine."

"What is it?"

"We don't have time to talk about my personal matters, Doctor. Let's hurry up and find the thing – before it kills anybody," she snapped.

The Doctor looked taken aback but said nothing more on the matter and began to run. Hermione chased after him, matching him pace for pace. She noticed that he held his screwdriver out in front of him, the blue laser on the top shining and making that odd noise the entire time. In fact the Doctor seemed to be following its directions. This was not the oddest thing that she had seen over the past day and a half and so Hermione merely accepted it. They turned a corner and Hermione saw the biggest building yet standing before her. It was so high that the top disappeared into the clouds. Oddly it did not fit in with the rest of the architecture, being a rather modern looking sleek black building, covered with enormous windows. At what she supposed was the entrance a gaggle of extremely angry people.

"Um excuse me," the Doctor began. "May I ask – just a little curious – what are you all doing here?"

"Well," said what seemed to be an angry woman with tentacles. "We are trying to speak to the Inspector."

"The inspector?" he inquired.

"The market inspector, she runs the entire planet."

"I see, and why exactly do you want to speak to this inspector?"

The woman blinked her three eyes at him as though she could not believe his stupidity. "Because of the creature that is ravaging our homes and livelihoods, of course."

"Thanks."

The Doctor gave Hermione a cheeky grin which she did not understand and beckoned her to follow with a nod of his head. Together the two of them went around the side of the building, down a dingy alleyway. They came across a locked door that had a no entry sign upon its front. The Doctor buzzed his screwdriver at the lock and made it swing wide open. They had entered into what seemed to be some sort of kitchen which was deserted. A door had been left ajar and the two of them found that it lead to a huge atrium with a glass elevator in the middle of the room. With quick haste the Doctor half-jumped into it and Hermione, feeling rather reckless, followed. She was sure that they would get caught but, somehow, being with the Doctor she didn't mind. Surprisingly they made it to the top floor without seeing another living being. They exited the lift and began to search for well anyone. It didn't take them long to realise where they all were. A woman stood on the stage in a huge lecture-like hall. She was giving a speech to the people attending, and Hermione didn't have to reach far to guess that it was about the creature.

"…and so I believe that we have no other choice," she summarize. "We must kill the creature or face our planets ultimate destruction. To do this I suggest we use Dr. Guntherili's plan to send great electric shocks throughout the planets crust right to the core. Hopefully this will euthanize the creature. If not then we shall have to lure the creature out and send such shocks at it directly." The woman surveyed the room. "All in favour?"

Every person in the room raised their hand. Everyone except Hermione and the Doctor that is who, at this point, sauntered into the room uninvited. "Sorry but no," he called to much astonishment.

"Oh Doctor, what are you doing?" Hermione whispered.

Regardless she followed him and drew some stares herself. Meanwhile the Doctor had already reached the stage and grabbed the microphone from the speech-giving woman.

"Excuse me? But who are you?" said the woman rather rudely.

"I'm the Doctor and this is Hermione, nice to meet you!" He turned back to the audience. "Like I was saying you can't kill this creature, it's just wrong. It's a new living being, a brand new life. You don't really want to commit genocide." A few of them looked uncomfortable which was something though most looked unconvinced. "Look, we-"

"Look I don't know who you _think_ you are Doctor?"

"Nothing, just 'the Doctor'," he replied, smiling.

The woman looked flustered. "Well I'm not sure how you earned such a title but _I_ am the one in charge here and I say we kill it."

"And I say you don't!" he shouted. Hermione was slightly taken aback at his flash of temper. "Please, reconsider."

"We will not."

"You can't do this!"

"Oh yes I can," she said.

The Doctor took a few steps closer to her so they were almost nose to nose. Hermione could tell that the woman was intimidated as she took a small step back.

"Then I'll have to stop you."


End file.
